Time Out raises £8.4m for London and New York markets

Time Out Group has revealed further details of its plans for a London food market after raising millions of pounds towards the project.

The media and entertainment company is reportedly in talks to launch a site at 10 Piccadilly, a Grade II-listed venue on Piccadilly Circus.

It comes four years after plans for a 500-seat market in London Waterloo were scrapped after the pandemic hit in 2020 and a rumoured site in the city’s Spitalfields area never got off the ground.

In an update, Time Out said the new London market would be over 20,000 sq ft and is expected to open in 2027 if plans go ahead.

The company yesterday raised £8.4m through a share placing to launch both the London venue and a second site in New York. 

Addressing the London opening, Time Out said: “In the city in which Time Out first launched over 50 years ago, the company is proposing to open a new market in excess of 20,000 sq.ft. in an area with high footfall from both locals and tourists. 

“An initial cash outlay of £2.6m for the rent deposit (and associated fees) secures a 15-year lease of the site and anticipated handover is in 2026, with opening expected in 2027.”

Time Out said it also planned to enter a 10-year lease to take over a 10,000 sq ft existing food hall in New York, which would reopen in summer 2025.

The company said the two markets had the potential to deliver over £2m EBITDA in 2026, rising to over £3m in 2027 and more than £4m in 2028.

Time Out opened its first food market in Lisbon, Portugal (pictured) in 2014, which welcomes millions of visitors every year.

It has since expanded to markets in New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, Dubai, Cape Town, Porto and Barcelona.

Markets in Bahrain, Osaka, Budapest, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, Prague and Riyadh are listed as ‘coming soon’ on Time Out’s website.

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